4. The Unsatisfying Remote Control

While the Eos system does come with a remote control, its infrared range isn’t very far (about 15 feet) and you are better off just using the controls on the iPod itself. The remote doesn’t have the ability to navigate your playlist, nor access other iPod menus: it just offers basic controls such as volume up/down, play/pause and mute. Sometimes it took several tries pressing a button before the remote would actually execute the operation. You have to point it very accurately at the base unit, and you can’t operate it in a different room from the one where the base station is located.

After spending time with the remote we eventually went back to using the iPod’s navigation wheel for setting up playlists and other navigation tasks.

The Eos base station worked with our iPhone 3G and older iPods, but it turns off the phone feature. Apple calls this "airplane mode", meaning you can’t receive any calls, but more importantly, in this mode the battery isn’t charged. The other iPods will fit in its dock just fine, and can also be charged.